RFC: Spec for Fossick (proposed MacPorts GUI)

[Ian Wadham]

Hi guys,

Attached is a pure-text file (made with vi), containing my ideas so far
for a new MacPorts GUI.  Comments, suggestions and reviews are
welcome.

It is intended to be a simple tool for first-time users (in Basic mode)
and a more versatile tool for more advanced users (in Advanced
mode) to browse the huge amount of information stored in MacPorts.

Fossick is a working title for the GUI --- as explained in the attached.

I have been slowly getting to grips with Xcode 4.6, Cocoa, the
Interface Builder and Objective C in the last few weeks.  It
certainly has a different philosophy from Qt and C++.

A rough prototype layout is now running.  It can load and search
all the ports, but needs more menus and toolbar items and the
functionality that goes with them.  The screenshot is 160 Kbytes.
Should I attach it?

I have also worked out a scheme to launch "port" commands in
the background and monitor the output, requesting an admin
password in the usual Apple OS X popup, when required.

BTW none of the above uses Macports Framework.  It works directly
with the port index file and the "port" command.  IMHO that will
provide a more stable interface than MacPorts Framework, long-term,
and its speed is adequate.

The main window has three panes: top, bottom left and bottom
right, all of which are resizable within the overall window size.

The top pane is a table view of all ports or all those found by the
most recent search (case-insensitive) of name and description and
(optionally) a category.  There will probably also be a way to
select installation statuses (analogous to "port installed", etc.).

The bottom two panes will run a more advanced search, monitor
the output from a background run of "port" commands or provide
various kinds of information about ports clicked on and selected
in the top pane.

Please have a look and send your comments.

All the best, Ian W.

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